A Whole New World

It happened on one of those zip-a-dee-doo-dah days. Now that’s the kind of day when you can’t open your mouth without a song jumping right out of it. That’s exactly what I was doing most of the way to Orlando, Florida for the trip of a lifetime; I was singing every Disney song I knew. One of my favorite things about this trip was that I was with my choir, so some of them were singing too.

At the beginning of this school year I was informed that our choir would be taking a spring break trip to Walt Disney World in Florida, and every moment after that was spent anxiously awaiting said expedition. So on Friday, March 7, I sat in the choir room attempting to convince myself of the reality all around me. It seemed much more like a dream (and there may have been some dreaming; it was very late by the time the bus arrived). This feeling continued for the length of the ride to Dallas and as we boarded our plane.

After copious amounts of sleeping, waiting, singing, and traveling, we arrived at Disney’s Animal Kingdom around noon on Saturday. At this point most of us were visibly exhausted, but nobody seemed to care. We all went to Expedition Everest first, and then broke off into smaller groups. We explored every inch of the park, taking thousands of pictures and making thousands of memories. I ate at a cleverly named, dinosaur themed restaurant with the other members of my group that day, which was fantastic. But the greatest feature of Animal Kingdom was without a doubt the Tree of Life. No pictures or words can accurately describe seeing the baobab live and in person. I could tell it wasn’t a real tree, but it was so intricate and beautiful and full of life that it didn’t matter. It was the pinnacle of the park.

The following morning, we rose fairly early in order to prepare for the Magic Kingdom. It was Sunday morning, and I am proud to say that it did not go unrecognized amongst our group. One of our seniors led a devotional that morning. She did an outstanding job and it fit perfectly into the trip. She shared the end of 1 Thessalonians 5 and encouraged us to be thankful in all circumstances, as in 1 Thessalonians 5:18. I love being a part of a group that is about the word of God and doing what it says, and I’m so glad it was shown that being at Disney World doesn’t exempt you from that.

After breakfast and our devotional, we were off to the Magic Kingdom, which may have been my favorite park. My small group started in Main Street, U.S.A. and made a circle around the park the first half of the day. Space Mountain was a crowd favorite, so we rode it several times. Around 5 my group decided they wanted to go shopping, but thankfully several members of a different group came to my rescue. I made another circle around the park with them before the parade, which was phenomenal. Finally we made our way back to Main Street for the show at the castle, which was by far the best event at the park. A beautiful arrangement of Disney clips and moments were displayed on the castle to the soundtrack of Disney through the years. It was stunningly beautiful, and I know there were tears in my group. Following that was a fireworks show narrated by Jiminy Cricket about wishes and dreams coming true, and it was so fitting because the beauty of the scene was a dream come true.

 

Monday morning we departed for Epcot. Throughout the day I met several characters such as Elsa, Anna, Belle, Mary Poppins, Mickey, Minnie, Goofy… The list goes on. Among the favorite rides were Mission Space (though it’s not for those with claustrophobia or motion sickness) and Soarin’. My group wandered around the park until the time came for our Disney Sings workshop, which was undoubtedly my favorite part of the entire trip, during which we learned two songs from the Lion King, made some fairly bizarre sound effects, and learned some choreography, which I also learned is not my strongest point. It was amazing to be a part of such a talented group. Following the workshop we went back out to the park and made another loop before the Illuminations show. We made the mistake of sitting right next to a speaker, and hearing is not my forte (no pun intended), but the show was still outstanding, a combination of fireworks, lasers, and music to stir the emotions and illuminate the night, both literally and metaphorically.

 

Tuesday was spent at Universal Studios, and it was magical, not merely because I spent a large portion of my day at Hogwarts. That is where I started, and I must say I enjoyed my few hours drinking butterbeer, riding dragons, and exploring the castle. Eventually we left Hogsmeade and made a loop all around the park, riding various rides that looked interesting and snacking on the widest variety of food possible from kebabs to dippin’ dots. I spent the latter part of the day watching as the group rode a roller coaster that looked a little too intense for me, and then we ate at the Hard Rock Café. The park was fairly large, and by the end of the night I felt as though I had really walked the universe.

Wednesday morning we went to Hollywood Studios. We rode the Tower of Terror and The Rock’n Roller Coaster. Thankfully my friend thought to bring some headphones, because we rode it three times and it was certainly the loudest experience. We ate at Pizza Planet, where I enjoyed the Toy Story references to infinity and beyond. Then we walked around the park one more time before regrouping and heading to the airport. The ride home was long and mostly unexciting, but you could practically feel the Disney World atmosphere still around us as we sang our Disney songs and talked about our favorite parts of the trip. We arrived at home with mixed emotions of relief to be back and longing to go again.

This was truly the trip of a lifetime, and it was the best adventure I’ve yet to go on. I am so thankful to have gotten to go, especially with this particular group. It truly would not have been the same if I had gone with anyone else, so to those of you out there who had a part in that, thank you so much for the pictures, the stories, the memories, and for joining me on this adventure to a whole new world. I had the time of my life, and dreams really did come true. I hope the same is true for you.

A Reason for Hope

From Phil Robertson to Pope Francis to an average day in high school, confrontation is a very controversial issue. So what is an appropriate response for a Christian to the controversial trends of the modern world? For example, how do you respond to the unit in biology that directly states that God does not exist? What is your reaction to pressing moral issues such as abortion, homosexuality, drug abuse, and everything else? Where is the line?

In the words of C. S. Lewis, "Jesus Christ did not say, 'Go into all the world and tell the world that it is quite right.'" As Christians in the world today, it is our job according to the great commission to go therefore and make disciples of all nations. But in order to do that, we need to understand where the lines are. Some people say that the majority of Christians are intolerant and unloving. This reputation comes from those who choose to say that in every aspect, "I am right and you are wrong." And they do so more often than not in a rather harsh way. As Christians we are not supposed to be tolerant, in the postmodern sense*, because tolerance is the least loving thing we could possibly do.

Imagine this: You are a doctor. A patient comes to see you and it is evident that he is deathly sick. You have the cure for his sickness, but you don't want him to be upset, so you choose not to even tell him he is sick. What is the consequence of this choice? The patient dies. That choice makes no sense. In the same way, seeing that someone you know is in desperate need of a savior (because we all are) and choosing to ignore that for the sake of not hurting feelings and staying good friends, you're missing the point of loving your neighbor.

So now say you're in the same scenario, but this time you realize your patient needs to know he is sick, so you tell him he is sick. That's all. There is no hope in that. You can make a sign with Romans 3:23 on it, and people will know they are sinners. But odds are they probably already knew that, and telling them so probably only offends them. If someone openly claims they don't believe in God, you can say they're wrong and that they will end up in Hell, but the only thing that might convince them of is that they want nothing to do with you or your faith, because saying something like that is malicious and hateful.

In this doctor scenario, the only right thing to do is to tell the patient he is sick, and to offer him the only cure. The same is true of making disciples. You are not accomplishing anything by convincing someone he or she is wrong unless you include the message of hope that is the gospel of Jesus Christ. You have to convey that, "Yes, you are a sinner. I am a sinner. Neither of us is worse than the other, and we are both so bad that Jesus had to die for each of our sins. So that's what he did. Our sins are paid for, Jesus has defeated sin and the grave, and by grace we have been saved!" You can't just give a part of the message. The message of the fall is desperate and dark, but the gospel gives us a reason for hope.

This is a decent illustration for what we need to do, but it isn't the best. Ephesians 2 does not tell us that we are deathly sick in sin; rather, it tells us that we are dead in sin. That is not something you or I can cure, and it's not something any of us can choose to fix. It's only in Christ that we are alive, and that is a point that needs to be made. I couldn't save myself, and I can't save anyone else. If people are dead in sin, only God can save them. All we can do is follow God's commandment and share the gospel. God will has rescued us, and will rescue in his perfect timing in accordance with his perfect plan.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. --Ephesians 2:1-7


* Tolerance in the classical sense means that all ideas and values may be expressed; tolerance in the postmodern sense is that all these are equally valid and must be celebrated by all.